Hey there! Happy Thinking Out Loud Thursday. Except… for me, it’s kind of Friday because I’m in college. Speaking of which, I’m back in college! Classes have started! And since we haven’t talked about anything other than muffin tops and fruit rolls this week, that means we have a lot to catch up on.
So, what do you say we link up with Amanda and take a look at what’s been happening in my life and mind lately?
1.) I’ve been feeling a tad frazzled this week. My classes got settled later than I’m used to this quarter. Like I said last week, I was scrambling to find classes to register for to make myself a full-time student. My syllabi for those were mostly not posted until Sunday, which made buying books challenging – and forget about doing the readings for the first class at that point.
I also wanted to take a class at the business school, but registering for those is a totally different system. I found out I got into that one on Monday afternoon, so I had to drop one of the other classes. Four is the maximum number of courses you can take without paying extra. Or going crazy.
2.) Speaking of going crazy… the wi-fi in my dorm room works for all three of my roommates, but not for me. My wi-fi works everywhere else on campus. IT has no idea what to do and neither does Apple. HELP ME.
{Basically.}
3.) I’m a person who overloads my schedule pretty much any chance I get. It’s not always intentional, but I like to be busy. Sometimes, that leads to being too busy. Well, yesterday I decided I want to enjoy everything I’m doing as much as possible right now and opted to say no to taking my fourth class. It sounded interesting initially, but it’s not necessary for my major or graduation. I was taking it for enjoyment, but was immediately not enjoying it. As soon as I hit the drop button… total sigh of relief. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little lazy for “only” taking three classes, but it also feels like the right thing, given my other commitments.
4.) So, what am I taking? Glad you asked!
- Topics in American Economic History
- Ancient Empires (this quarter is on the Hittites)
- Financial Accounting
5.) Topics in American Economic History is an econ elective (I need four of those) that takes a little bit of a different approach than the core of the economics major I took last year. That is, those other classes focused on how much math you can do and how many models you can use to study economic occurrences. This one takes a look at how economic history can inform the study of economics. The break from tons of algebra is nice, honestly. I just… need some time away from seven variable algebra and 16-hour/week problem sets. Plus, I like history and it’s a cool way to learn some of the economic implications of history I’m already loosely familiar with.
6.) Three quarters of Ancient Empires fulfills the College’s requirement for Civilization Studies. Each quarter, we thoroughly examine an ancient empire from its origin to its fall. I’m actually really excited about this class because I haven’t studied ancient civilizations at all since about seventh grade.
7.) Financial Accounting itself admittedly doesn’t excite me, but the professor did make the point that accounting is just not that exciting in general. However, it’s the class in the business school that you kind of have to take before you take any other classes there. It meets once a week for three hours, which is just a long time. The teacher is funny and makes it fairly entertaining, though. Also, I love the business school here. Most of our buildings remind me of Hogwarts, and while I have exactly zero complaints about that, they aren’t exactly light and bright inside.
{Rockefeller Chapel is gorgeous, but not exactly full of natural light.}
Booth is practically all windows, which is really refreshing.
8.) And now to a big reason for not overloading myself with classes that I’m not enjoying… I’m going to be doing my 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training this fall!
This is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while, but the cost has always deterred me. However, I know I am able to pay for it and I really don’t have a ton of other expenses. Also, it’s an investment and I’d be able to use it to teach on a part-time basis and make the money back. So, when I found out it was being offered at the studio I frequent in Chicago and the course lasts until just before I head back home for winter break, I was in. I’m so excited!
9.) I’m currently sitting on my bed, eating an apple, sweet potato slathered with cashew butter, and dark chocolate, writing, and listening to the rain. I’m very content.
10.) And now I want to leave you with some of my favorite recipes + reads from the week.
- If you didn’t already know, I’m obsessed with pistachios. –> Pistachio Pancakes with Pistachio Butter
- Also, with sweet potatoes. –> Two-Minute Sweet Potato Brownie
- It’s been a long time since I’ve had good pork chops. –> Fork Tender Balsamic Mustard Pork Chops
- We all need a reset sometimes. –> How to Regain Your Creative Energy
- Give yourself some love. –> 10 Non-Food Ways to Treat Yourself for Less than 20 Dollars and The Power of Personal First-Aid Kits
Your turn:
What’s your favorite class you took in college?
How are you feeling? What’s going on in your life?
Two things — 1) your snack sounds amazing… you can’t go wrong with cashew butter! and 2) YAY for yoga teacher training! So happy for you 🙂
It’s my favorite snack. Cashew butter is pretty awesome ? And thank you! I can’t wait to start!
That’s what happened my freshman year! No wifi for me in MY specific room! I had to always be hooked up to an ethernet cable….it was dreadful!
My favorite class was my University Writing Class freshman year, first semester! We were a small group and got super close and the teacher was amazing!
Ugh I hope I can figure out the wifi ? Small classes are so nice that way!
OMG ANCIENT EMPIRES SEEMS AMAZING. I had several incredible classes–and some that weren’t so great but the teacher was amazing!
CONGRATS ON TEACHER TRAINING!
I’m really looking forward to BOTH of them ?
Your apple, sweet potato, cashew butter combo sounds delicious. Don’t feel lazy about dropping a class. It’s better you put quality work into the classes you are taking. And I love college campus’s, so many good photo ops!
That’s my favorite snack! 🙂
Learning to say, ‘No’ this year to the right things and say ‘yes’ to the right things has been a challenge, but it’s really helped me to not be as overwhelmed. You seem to have a lot of energy, because I think that’s why college would be really tough for me. I’m not good at doing a lot of things besides one or two things that I can really focus on; I would be so bad at getting all the home work done.
That night snack sounds really good! 🙂 I love how you do balance Ellen!
It’s hard to say no, and I tend to feel like if I do, I’m letting someone down. But if I don’t say no sometimes, that’s kind of like not making enough time for myself and therefore letting myself down.
I think you do lots very well! You’re very interactive in blog world and encouraging and you have a life at home too ❤️ We’re all works in progress!
Yay for teacher training! Boo on the wifi issues- that is always the worst- especially when we are so tied to our computers! I don’t know if I could choose a favorite class in college- I really enjoyed my sociology of the aging population – very eye opening class!
I feel like an obnoxious millennial but I want my wifi and I want it now. ? Ooh that sounds like an interesting class.
the scheduling situation sounds stressful, but it’s good you decided to tone it down a bit 🙂 i did that last semester and this semester, and and currently very happy with my choice this semester 🙂 as for YTT, yay!! are you doing it are CP or where? i’ve wanted to do it since freshman year, but would have to do it in columbus @ GoYoga or Yoga on High (my fav places!), so i’m waiting to graduate first i think. good luck as school starts!!
I’m doing it at CorePower, yep. I thought about it over the summer, but my schedule was a little more structured then and the money still totally threw me. But I’m super excited now!
It sounds like you got off to a late start, but I hope you settle into your classes nicely. Congratulations on being accepted into your yoga certification course, too!
I had a botany course that I loved. The teacher made it so interesting and I remember surprising myself with actually getting a good grade in a science class.
The quarter system means my school starts a month later than everyone else!
Haha I’ve been glad to find a few interesting science classes here, too!
How exciting that you’re going to be doing a yoga certification course. Go girl!
I always overload my schedule too – and then wonder why I’m feeling frazzled and stressed. So so silly!
We just want to do it ALL, don’t we?
That totally sucks not having wifi! Hopefully you can get it sorted soon. Gosh when I was at uni we didn’t even have Internet in our student halls… Had to go to the computer labs to get it. Then again our phones didn’t even have Internet… Ha I sound so old!!
Nah, I honestly feel obnoxious complaining about it. Total first-world/millennial problem. But I just wanna watch Netflix sometimes…
Congrats on the yoga training; that’s so awesome!!! Wishing you all the best in your endeavors <3
Thanks so much, Edye! I’m really looking forward to it!